"Now, let me tell you frankly why we have selected you for this work in spite of your youth. Any man,--I won't call you a boy, for from now on you must be a man in every sense of the word,--any man who can put together the twos and twos you summed up after your experience with Hessenburg, or Tourtelle, and after reading your cousin's letter, is a natural-born investigator. The average person would have been confused by that evidence; he would not have had the nerve to form the conclusions you formed. I'm not saying this to flatter you. If you feel in the least flattered, you had better say so at once, and give up the whole scheme, for there is great danger of your failing and being shot. Let me tell you why:
"The man who has one second's time to entertain a conceited or self-conscious thought, devotes just that much time to the undermining of his own strength. Get me?"
"Absolutely," Irving replied. "I've told myself that many times, although not in those words."
"Now," continued the colonel, "I believe you told me that you had studied German at school?"
"Yes, I had one year of it."
"And Hessenburg said he knew only a little of the language?"
"Yes."
"Does he know any Austrian?"
"No. His uncle and his father, although Austrians by birth, lived mostly in Germany until they emigrated."
"Good. You will not be under suspicion because of your ignorance of the German language. Still, it would be well for you to be able to make yourself understood and to understand others from the moment you get into that country. So I'm going to put you under an instructor for a few days."